


Dixon Cowboys

by ramblesandshambles



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 12:06:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 24,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4564050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramblesandshambles/pseuds/ramblesandshambles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dixon cowboys... says it all really, Daryl Dixon on a horse. Carol on a horse. Lets see where we end up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've had this in my draft for a while. I don't know where its going I have some notes. But if I don't post it today it will be deleted.

Carol couldn't believe what they were doing. They gathered as many things in a short space of time from the house. She was lucky she kept a tidy house so she could just pull open drawers for clothes, shoes, she grabbed their jackets. She nodded to her son Jaxon as he come out of the garage with camping gear. She grabbed pillows and whatever she could. She knew they only had a short period of time to get out of town. She run past her five year old who was standing there crying with big tears rolling down her face.

"Its ok Sophia, its ok." She tried to tell her as she opened the cupboards and grabbed as much food as she could putting it into bags. Jaxon kept looking at his watch and told his mother to change her clothes into something a little more normal. She sighed as she looked at herself in the part of the twinset mummy outfit her husband had brought her a few weeks ago. Jaxon had used the bolt cutters to open up the locked cupboard in the garage of normal clothes that she used to wear all the time. He chucked a pair of cargo pants, he boots and a couple of tops for her to wear. Carol went to the bathroom changed her clothes, used the toilet, fluffed her hair and looked at herself in the mirror.

She was excited, they were getting away. They were trying all thanks to her son. He had worked the plan without her even knowing about it, or Sophia so no one could slip up. He played his step father like a fiddle and now he had a car and tank full of gas. They were getting out. They were going to disappear back home to her father. She knew he would come look for her there but she hoped that old friends would help them.

 "Get the tent too, and what ever else you think." She told him, he nodded and moved quickly. They were both moving fast past Sophia who was still standing crying and clutching the family dog. They didn't have time to comfort her right now. 

Within fifteen minutes they had left a whirlwind behind them. They grabbed every thing they could think of and Carol grabbed the children's birth certificates and her drivers licesnce. She broke into his desk to get everything she needed. All their identification. She ripped her marriage licence in half and put her wedding rings on top of the desk. She wrote a note saying, "Let us be free and happy. I'm leaving of my own free will." She grabbed a pen and paper from the desk and run through the house towing Sophia with her as she pasted the little girl. 

Jaxon had the kitten in his hands and put it in the car. They had water, they had food and they had money. He just needed to get them into the car. "Just go mum, get in the car," 

He whistled for the family dog who come running out the house leaping into the back seat. His little five year old sister was freaking out about them leaving the house without their dad saying they could. "Sophia, come on.... I'll buy you an ice cream," She wouldn't stop crying and she was frightened.

The little girl was so scared of what might happen she stood and wet her pants. Carol blamed herself that she had not been able to get away with the children earlier and now she was relying on her teenager to get them out of town by lying to his step dad and convincing him that he was following all his stupid rules that he had come up with in the last year.

"I'll have to change her." Carol went to get out of the car.

"No mum she has to come like that."

He climbed out of the drivers seat all his seventeen years and picked his sister up and carted her into the car. The little girl was hysterical, Carol run to the trunk pulling out some clothes. "Leave it, she can just sit with a naked bottom we have to go before he's home, just get in..... Soph stop its ok I'ma not gonna let anything happen."

It had been a whirl wind event. Jaxon arrived home from school at lunch time telling her he swiped his dad's cash card and cleared their bank account that he could access. He had taken what he could ou in cash, gassed up his car. Picked his little sister up from school and come home told his mother they were leaving. Carol had been trying to leave for months but they had no car or way to get out of town. No money, no friends. Jaxon had asked his father for a cheap car which Carol was surprised he had brought him only because Jaxon said he wanted to get a job and he then could pick up his sister from school and drop her off. His dad agreed because it meant then his mother would never have an excuse to leave the house. He started controlling everything a year ago.

They used to have a happy life. It never used to be like this but one day a year ago he flipped a switch and she suddenly found herself in a controlled marriage, fights and argument every night and the other night he had pushed Carol into a wall because she wouldn't call him the name he wanted her to call him. Jaxon had been at his new job and when he come home he found his mother trying to clean up the mess that had been thrown around the lounge. His father's temper he had thrown pot plants by the looks of things.. Sophia sobbing in the wardrobe and his father making imaginary phone calls in his study. Jaxon said nothing, he helped his mother clean up and put her to bed in his room in bed with his little sister. He slid the lock across his bedroom door and he waited Phillip out until he passed out drunk in his office. Then he took his card, and his passwords.

Jaxon was her son from a teenage romance gone wrong by a drifter who come through her fathers ranch when she was 19 and he left again at the end of the season before he ever knew she was pregnant. She stayed on the ranch for 3 years until she decided she's waited for him to come back long enough she left to go to the city to school with Jaxon in tow and now her little boy was pretty much a man. He'd stuck by her and now he was stepping up in a way that no teen should have to for their family but they were getting out of the house and out of town.

She hadn't talked to her dad in 18 months he would help her she was sure. They spent such a lot of time on the ranch. Carol hadn't talked to him in so long because Phillip got rid of the home phone to stop her making calls and told her they only needed his cell phone. He'd gotten more and more eccentric over the past year. More secretive. Her spending money had gone and he took her to the store even to buy tampons. She didn't know how to change it because she didn't have any money or ways to make a call. There were no neighbors close by to even use a phone and no one ever just stopped by anymore because Phillip made them so unwelcome. She was all alone until Jaxon come back this morning with Sophia.

Both had gone to the school for school roll and then Jaxon snuck out. He knew he only had an hour before they knew he was gone and they would ring his father per his instructions if Jaxon was never at school. He did tell his friend to tell them he was in the bathroom so he hoped he had two periods until the school noticed him missing. Jaxon knew the primary school wouldn't ring because he was allowed to sign Sophia out. Phillip had put Jaxon on her pick up and drop off list. They now would never check with him to make sure it was ok.

Sophia sobbed as Jaxon drove down the drive out to the highway.

"Granddads? Will granddad help us?" he asked his mom, he hadn't thought his plan the whole way through he just knew that they had to get away.

"I think so... how much money do we have?" she was trying to figure out how they would be able to afford to drive across two states, Phillip always told them they had no money for different things. She had about $5 of change in her purse, she had their id and that was it. She didn't even operate a bank account without Phillips name on it. She didn't even know if they could get money for anything. They had food but the gas was going to be the problem.

"Mom you had 3k in the checking account I took it, we have money," Jaxon told her.

"Really?"

"Really really..... Its going to be ok, Granddad will help us,"

Carol thought about what he said, how did they have that much money. Even when she had control over everything money had been tight and all of a sudden it was like he had flipped a switch. They never been head over heels in love like she had been with Jaxons father but there was love there and then there wasn't. For the past sixteen months he had become their tormentor and she couldn't do a thing about it. She'd tried to walk the ten miles into town with Sophia and Jaxon to see a lawyer but in the end he had found out she was trying to leave him and made things even tighter. She tried to leave at least once a month but he always found out the moment she took the kids from school and she wasn't going to leave without them. This time Jaxon made sure they had a car and made sure they had money. He'd been setting his father up for trust on this for months. 

They drove for an hour before stopping briefly to use a public bathroom. Jaxon helped his mother out of the car she shoved sunglasses on her face hoping they wouldn't run into anyone they knew She took Sophia into the bathroom to help her clean up. She stood her in the bathroom sink and use the cold water to wash her and the hand soap. She patted her down with paper towels and helped her into fresh underwear and shorts.

"Its ok Sophia, its going to be ok," Carol tried to reasure her daughter who was still sniffing. No child should have to be this worried about leaving their home.

"What if he comes," Sophia whispered.

"I don't know... I'll talk to granddad," Carol told her... she had to rely on the fact that the man who raised her as his own daughter would help her.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coin toss plot twist.

"Mom... Mom!" Jaxon shook her shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

He was carrying his upset sister who was upset because Carol was racked with grief. She held it together while they were around the real estate person but now they left she was struggling to walk and Jaxon was  half shaking his mother arm to get her to focus. He guided her to the front seat of the car and put his sister in the back seat beside the dog. He didn't know what to do. He thought they had the plan sorted out. They driven for two days making small stops and sleeping in the car. When they arrived at her fathers place he was gone. He'd died last year.

Jaxon did a mental count trying to work out a time line. He'd had a heart attack in town and died. The farm had been sold and until then he'd had managers on it as he grew older and lived in town only going to the farm a few times a week. The only thing Jaxon could tell was that this was around the  time his father cut off the home phone and limited all access to everything. He'd kept his mom's fathers death from her. He kept it from everyone and he also kept from them all the amount of money that he sold the ranch for and they didn't know. He'd stolen his mothers inheritance, he stole it right out from underneath them all and kept them all from grieving for the old man.

He started the car up, listening to his mom's sob's he couldn't stand it. The farm had been sold. He'd gone into the real estate agent to ask about it with his shocked mother at his side and it was true Phillip had sold it. Had her father buried and they didn't know anything thing about it. He clearly didn't tell her because the ranch had been left to Carol. The real estate agent looked shocked when Carol said she didn't know anything about it.

The women had gone out the back to get the deed of sale. He'd forged her signature on all the documents and the money had gone into an account that she didn't know about. Jaxon caught a glimpse of the names of the deed and who had brought the ranch. He saw it for a couple of seconds and he wanted to go out and look at the ranch and find out if it was all true or not. She was going to have to get a lawyer or something because now she was leaving him she would have to try and get half.

His mother told him about his father in as much detail as he could. She also gave him his fathers name a year ago when Phillip started losing the plot. She didn't know what was going to happen long term so she told him his name and that he had been kind to her but he was a drifter. She tried looking for him back then when he was on his way but the internet wasn't like it was now. She told him when he left home he would be able to find him or search for him if he wanted to. 

Right now he didn't know what to think. The whole situation was fucked up. His mom was crying. Sophia was asking for the toilet and now he had to find somewhere to take her. He drove around finding a small motel. He went and paid for a room signing in under a fake name. He took his mother into the bedroom seeing there was two double beds, he asked her if she wanted lunch she shook her head. She just wanted to sleep and now she was worried about what to do. They couldn't go back, not now. He helped her off with her shoes while Sophia went to use the bathroom.

"Have a shower Soph." He looked inside the bathroom and Sophia just stared at him. It been three days since she had taken a bath, since any of them had. They needed to shower and change. Jaxon needed to take Soph out for a walk or something. He needed to clear his head, he had come up with another plan and it was forming in his head. He needed Sophia to look clean and tidy and for them not to look like runaways. He put her in the shower telling her to wash her hair, she stared at him for a few moment.

"I don't know how." She whispered.

"Well get everything wet and I'll help once I got Zeus and your kitty." He paid extra to keep their dog and kitty in the unit. He didn't tell his mother, she was already worried about what they were going to do now. He was going to go look for a job. He had just the idea of where to go looking for one. He brought their dog and kitten in. Got them water and walked through to wash his sisters hair.

When she finished he helped her dry then left her to get dressed again while he grabbed his bag to take a shower himself. His mother was asleep exhausted by the news of her fathers passing. He was sad too, but he only visited the old man a few times in the last ten years. He remembered him for the first five. They lived with him and he remembered going with him most days on the ranch and he was sad because he didn't know what to do now. They had to find a way to make things work. They could get jobs and put Soph into school. Something had to happen and fast.

Jaxon shook his mom awake. "Mom, we going out to get something to eat, you want anything?"

"No... I'm ok, I'm just really sad and I don't know what to do." Her voice sounded heart broken. "He would have thought I didn't care."

"No mom, Phillip didn't turn off the phone until after he died so he wouldn't have known." Jaxon told her, she looked a little relieved about this news, she just couldn't wrap her head around why someone could be so cruel about everything.

"We will think of something, I'm taking Zeus and you have the kitten ok, I'm going to take a look around town. I've got Soph ok." He told her. He grabbed jackets for both of them. Sophia left a glass of water by Carol's bed and they put the dog on the led and headed out to the car. Sophia sat in the back and he drove through a drive through subway, he was surprised when he saw it but he figured his little sister had been living on cold can's of food and hamburgers. He ordered her a juice. They were eating and he was driving out of town.

"Where are you going?" Sophia asked him looking over her shoulder as they past the town signs.

"Going out to look at Pop's old ranch." He told her. Sophia didn't say anything else but listened to the music and talked to their dog. Jaxon pulled over and looked at the map, the gates to the ranch were not far from here about a ten minute drive. 

He pulled up to the gate and a new sign was there that had the word Dixon. It made sense his mom had told him he drifted about working on farms so it didn't surprise him that he owned a ranch. It did surprise him that he brought this ranch. He drove up to the main house looking around as he drove. It still looked the same. The old barn had been replaced by a new one and he was surprised to see so many green fields. He could see a huge irrigation system that went for a mile. That was how they did it. He pulled up near the main house and parked. 

He sat there for a few moments wondering if this was stupid and was this man even his actual father. How many guys were there around with this same name, but adding in the ranch and the town he felt sure it was him and if nothing else he might help his mom. He really hoped it was his dad because right now he really didn't know what to do, he needed someone to help him before Phillip showed up in town, he knew Phillip would try get them back especially now that they knew about their Pop. He looked across and could see a man coming out of the barn, he had a cowboy hat on and boots. Before he could do anything Sophia climbed out of the car taking Zeus with her walking towards the man with no fear.

"Christ... Sophia." Jaxon jumped out of the car moving quickly to stop her by putting a hand on his shoulder. The dog was excited because he'd been here before last time they visited and he wanted to run about checking everything out. The man walked close to them that Jaxon could see his face.

"Welcome to Dixon ranch, is there anything I can help you with? Ya lost?" The man looked from Sophia to the dog and then to Jaxon. He was a solid man who looked like he worked the place hard, Jaxon couldn't tell but the dog broke away from Sophia's hold and pressed himself up against his leg to be petted. Zeus seemed to like him so he decided that he would just go ahead and ask what he wanted to know. 

"I'm not lost, my Pop used to own this ranch." Jaxon told him, the man nodded. He looked from Jaxon to Sophia then down to the dog. He was trying to figure out why a teen with a small girl and a dog were standing on his ranch without an adult.

"You Carol's kids?" He asked. Jaxon nodded, "Well now... fuck me! Sorry princess... I talked to your pop a lot before he died. I was managing this place for the last year with my brother."

Jaxon nodded, "You know my mommy?" Sophia asked, "She's really sad... we run away. My daddy is crazy and he hurt mommy."

"Sophia!" Jaxon put his hand over her mouth to stop her from saying anything more. "I'm looking for... I mean... Merle Dixon? My mom told me he was my dad."

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

The cowboy's lazy smile slipped slightly as he took in Jaxon's news of his parentage. His stomach dropped to the ground. For all these years he thought he dodged the bullet of a love child. He'd been a player in his youth for for the past five years he'd been playing stag. He'd been married and had a daughter of his own. He never thought he'd ever come across someone telling him he was their dad especially someone as old as Jaxon.

A few year's ago he'd blown back into town with his own daughter and his brother in tow. They were looking for somewhere to put down roots and Merle had run into Carol's dad at the store and he'd been offered a job on the spot once he found out that Merle was now a widow and at the time had a four year old to raise. He was set to retire and offered Merle and Daryl  the run of the ranch and the house.

Phoebe was at school right now and the bus would be coming in a couple of hours. Daryl was off somewhere probably at the pond where he always went to relax. Sometimes he to Fee Fee with him or sometimes he just went on his own. Now he was staring at a almost fully grown boy claiming that Merle was his father. Everything started to click into place. Carol's father knew that Merle was the father of his grandson and never ever said a word and even offered them the ranch house. Maybe the old man wasn't as stupid as they thought he was after all. 

It still didn't excuse Carol for never showing up when he died. He scratched his neck and coughed, he shuffled his foot then looked at Jaxon, held his hand out and said. "Merle Dixon!"

"Are you?" Jaxon reached out and shook his hand. He was asking him are you my dad. 

"Seems that..." He took a glance at Sophia. "Seems that I might have known your mother when I was twenty something." Merle scratched his head, taking off his hat and rubbing his hand through his short hair. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen." Jaxon told him.

"I'ma five." Sophia told him, she held her hand out and Merle stepped forward to shake his hand too. Merle shook her hand and looked around them wondering what the heck he was supposed to do now. Where the heck did these kids come from and was he expecting the police to arrive on his door step or something. He kinda wished Daryl was back he would know what to do right now.

"Where's ya ma, she never come back when her old man died." Merle looked confused.

"Sophia, go over and play on the old tyre swing." Jaxon pointed to the old oak tree and the old swing there. He hoped it wouldn't fall down on her but Sophia skipped off happy with her dog towards the swing. Jaxon watched her for a moment then he started to tell him about what happened when they arrived in town. Merle stood there looking at the little girl on the swing listening to Jaxon.

"So this Phillip sold the ranch and your ma just found out today her daddy died?" Merle asked.

"She's won't stop crying."

"Where is she now?"

"Back at the hotel. I thought... I don't know. Can you help us?" Jaxon looked desperate and Merle sighed. His eyes were flashing from Sophia back to Merle, he took Merle's silence to mean that he didn't want to help but really Merle was trying to process all of what Jaxon had said. "He's crazy, he kept mom at home and..." Jaxon sighed, "It's ok... I shouldn't have come here... you don't owe us anything. Sophia come on." 

Sophia come running over with the dog. Merle was still standing there still shocked and Jaxon scoped up Sophia and started to walk towards the car. 

"Wait... wait... I don't know what I can do. You coming here was unexpected. You can't just tell someone they have a teenager and all this other stuff." Merle followed him to the car, he reached in the car and turned it off and took the keys. "I'll go get your mom. You guys come on in the truck. Leave the dog, we will put her in the house ok." 

They put the dog in the house with a bowl of water and they followed Merle around. Sophia followed him about and stuck her tiny hand in the big cowboys hand following him about. They climbed into the truck with Merle after Merle fiddled with Sophia's car seat putting it into the back of his truck. He was driving down the long drive with the kids into town. He pulled his cb out and called his brother to let him know that he should come back to the house and call him on the cell phone. He didn't want to say much over the cb in case someone was listening. Sometimes the nosy receptionist at the police station who had a thing for his brother and him listened into the frequency.   

Merle was the first one to admit he didn't have the first idea of what the heck he was doing nor did he know what to do with the couple of kids he had in the truck with him. He stole a look at Jaxon who was sitting beside him in the front seat. He was a Dixon through and through he didn't look like he was going to put up with much bullshit and had taken on a role with his mom and kid sister way beyond his years. The little girl looked like she'd been crying for days but when she slipped her hand into his and seemed to grow confidence knowing that someone was going to help them.

"I ain't got shit in in cupboard, how about we hit the store, why don't you kids go in and get what you need and I'll go get your mom." Merle pulled up outside the supermarket. He didn't know what sort of state Carol was going to be in  and the little girl already looked like she'd been through the wringer. Jaxon asked what sort of food. Merle just told him fruit and whatever, he had fully stocked at home but kids ate a lot and now he had three kids who would probably eat everything they could. "Just get some stuff Sophia likes ok." He flicked them some large bills and told them he'd be back. He asked Jaxon for the key for the motel.

"It'll be ok, I'll meet you back in half an hour." Merle wrote down his cell phone number and left them outside the supermarket. Truth was that he didn't want the kids there when he went in to see Carol. She might flip out seeing him after all theses years or she might hold a grudge or something and those kids looked like they had been through enough.

He used the key to let himself into the room and Carol was sound asleep in the bed. A kitten walked across to greet him. There were bags and things on the floor, he looked around and didn't really know what to do. Carol might get a real fright. He sat on the bed across from her.

"Carol... its me... Merle... Carol... wake up," he leaned across and shook her a little calling her name, her eyes opened and she pulled the blanket up as she got a fright with him sitting across from each other. She blinked a couple of times, he reached out and handed her the glass of water that was beside the bed. "Jeeze girl you look like you need another few hours."

"How? How are you here?"

"I had some visitors... I brought your old man's ranch... met Jaxon." Merle took his hat off and lay it on the bed beside him. "Promised him I'd help you out. You wanna go home?"

Carol started sobbing.

"Come on then, old Merle's got ya sweet cheeks." Merle moved across to sit beside her while she cried. She didn't seem like she was going to stop and he wasn't one for crying women. "Right now... lets get you all packed up I promised ya kids I'd pick them up in ten minutes alright?"

He put her in the truck she had asked where the kids were and he told her he'd left her at the supermarket. She seemed so confused about what had happened for him to be there but right now she just wanted someone to help her take care of everything. Merle seemed to have everything under control and he didn't even seem that upset that he had a teenaged son that he never knew about. 

"We just got to pick up your kids and swing by the school."

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow ~ you guys are so overwhelming with the support for this fic. I guess you all like Cowboys and Dixon's. I have about 8 anon's in my inbox on tumblr and the comments on this fic are warming my heart.

Daryl sat relaxing under a tree and put his hat over his eyes intending on taking a 5 minute nap.They just did a full muster and for the first time in weeks he'd decided to take some time off. He had dried enough to pull on his jean's after going swimming but if he went back to the ranch he would feel guilty and end up working on something or another. He lay down his shirt and used it to cover the ground to lay on and used the saddle for a pillow then shut his eyes drifting off to sleep.

He was dead beat and just wanted to chill. He ate his lunch watching the creek feed the pond having put food and water in his saddle bag before he left that morning telling Merle where he was heading and he also had his phone and walkie talkie which they carried everywhere they went on the ranch. They even kept emergency beacon's that they could set off in their saddle bags just in case. The ranch was so large that if they were to get hurt it could take days for someone to find them. It was for their own peace of mind that they were making so many emergency measures because they had little Phoebe to care for.  The noise of the water was really relaxing. 

He went into the water for a swim a short time ago. The creek filled the pond and both him and his brother liked to swim here after a long day. They often brought his niece up there before putting her to bed at night. Especially on the hot nights it helped all of them to cool down. They had been teaching her to swim and also it was a fun thing to do with her. It was rare for Daryl to have any time to himself any more due to helping his brother raise his niece that now there was someone constantly a round him.

After he rode his horse to the pond he had taken off her saddle and bridle putting it under the tree he intended eating his lunch on. He stretched and looked around, he had pulled his jeans and shirt off. He dumped his under wear and dove in loving the feel of the water going around his body. His brother would throttle him if he found out he was skinny dipping in the pond that he swam in. Daryl went under the water again and popped his head about the water, he whistled for his horse and dog, both were pacing the bank watching their master go under the water again.

His horse pranced back and forward on the side of the bank, his horse was one of the most ugliest horses he'd ever seen in his life which was why he got her cheap years ago. She' had been his faithful companion for years now, working hard to please him yet gentle enough that he knew he could put Fee on her and she would walk along beside Daryl like a dog on a leash. He was a sucker in the beginning because she was so ugly no one wanted her and she was off to the glue factory but in the end he was thankful he took her because she was perfect for him. She understood every slight touch of his knees, every shift in his saddle. He trusted her and she trusted him which was why they made a good team. Sure they had other horses on the ranch that they used but Honey was his Honey and he loved her. His dog ran into the water and was swimming near him. Daryl climbed out onto the bank. "Ya gonna make me ride you in?" He asked his horse, "Good job Merle's not here to see me do this. Come on Honey lets ride in."

He swung his leg over his horse and encouraged her to walk into the water. When they were in deep enough he half rolled half slid off her, he pulled her with him taking her out to swim. She always liked it when she was in the water but when she had to step off the side of the bank she always faltered and become unsure about the water again. His gentle words and gentle coaxing she relaxed and plodded into the water, she would follow him anywhere.

His horse was swimming around the pond until she decided she'd had enough. Daryl thought it was time for her to have a relax after all the time she had put in. He rubbed her head and thanked her. He patted her rump so she could go and graze nearby. He knew she would come to his whistle so he wasn't too bothered how far she went. Then Daryl went to dig into her saddle bags for something to eat. 

He'd been sleeping nearly half an hour when he heard the cb chirping with Merles voice coming over it to tell him to ring him via cell phone. He knew why. All their communications were being monitored by the noisy women down at the police station. He rolled onto his side and pulled out his phone to call Merle.

He listened to what he was saying and what he wasn't saying. Merle just told him that they were having three visitors for a while coming to stay with them and could he get back to the farm house and get things sorted there. Make dinner for three kids including Fee Fee and three adults. Daryl didn't ask questions knowing that Merle was on hands free and whomever was in the vehicle with him could hear him.

"Anyone allergic to anything?"

"No." He heard a different voice come over the phone. "Sophia doesn't like fish."

"Ok, I'm on it." Daryl rolled over and stretched. "Merle you need to pick Fee up then from the bus stop." 

"Nah I'm going into town now I'll get her from school." Merle told him over the phone.

"Um Merle you didn't kidnap anyone did you?" Daryl asked.

"No, I'll explain later, leave it ok. Make up the top room on the right for the mother ok. And her little girl." Merle rung off.

His nice relaxing afternoon ruined because he had to go to the farm house and play the housekeeper for Merle and whatever shit he had landed them all in now. It wasn't like they didn't have enough to do raising Merle's daughter on their own and neither of them knew what the heck they were doing. They didn't know anything about little girls and were flying blind. If she told them all the other girls had green socks they brought her green socks, they brought Barbies and cute pink dresses for her like she asked and they brought a dump truck and a sling shot. Merle didn't know if they were spoiling her or over compensating because her mother wasn't here. She could knock down a can off the fence post with her sling shot better than Merle could. 

Just yesterday she asked for pigtails and Daryl promised he would get hair ties and try figure it all out on youtube. He had gone into town and to the store and spent ten minutes looking at the hair ties and ribbon's that were there not knowing what to buy or get. The shop keeper an older women took pity on him and gathered together all the things he would possibly need for doing hair. She even gave him a quick demonstration on what to do. He still thought that Fee Fee was going to have to have the patience of a saint. Merle wouldn't have the patience to even try.

That morning Daryl had thought he might be able to use the vacum cleaner to suck all the hair into one spot if he could just work out how to do it.  He thought maybe he could put the hair tie on the vacum and wrap it around a few times, suck up the hair then roll the band back around the hair. Fee Fee stood there letting him try, she was the only one in her class without a mum right now and she was the only one who never had her hair done up with anything only ever in hair clips or a head band which was all Merle could do with her hair. Using the vacum seemed to work and he used a an incredible amount of hairspray and spray glitter stuff that the women in the store said all the little girls were wearing these days, Fee Fee thought it was great and run all about leaving behind her everywhere she run that morning a trail of glitter behind her.

Daryl rode up to the ranch and saw a strange car out the front. He took the saddle off Honey and gave her a quick wipe down then shooed her off into the paddock by the stables. He took out Phoebe's small horse and sent her out of the stables too. One by one he took them out and put them into the yards around the stables to get exercise and to socialize with each other. He split them up into groups of two or three based on personalities. Horses like people didn't get on with everyone. He thought Merle must have gotten interrupted before letting them all out. He headed up to the house to sort it all out before Merle's guests arrived. 

He whistled for his dog and walked up the steps to the house. He opened the door and one bouncy lab run past him and started playing with his dog. He stared at them for a moment and hoped that the new dog was fixed because they were being very friendly very quickly. He called his dog off as it tried to mount the other one. "For fuck sakes." Daryl muttered. He called the dogs, he left his outside in it basket telling it to stay and took the other one inside. He moved about quickly with no fuss sorting out something for dinner which consisted of putting a chicken in the oven and chopping a tray of vegetables, he didn't even bother peeling them. He shoved them in the oven.

 He quickly loaded the dishwasher and swept the floor. House keepers they were not and if anyone dropped in on them quickly they would see that. They really needed to get someone in to keep on top of the house. Fee Fee had art creations everywhere and Daryl started to pile everything up. He swept the floor and put the bits and pieces in the trash. He wiped down benches and the old farm kitchen table. He wasn't eve going to attempt to clean up the lounge which resembled a large washing basket. They gave up trying to sort and fold their clothes. Both Merle and Daryl dressed from the lounge couch. The only person that had a tidy bedroom with clean sheets was Fee because they needed to know where they were at with school stuff. They also had to have her at the bus stop by a certain time. They found out quickly that it was easier to keep on top of her washing and her projects.

Daryl headed upstairs to see what he could do about the mess before their visitors arrived. He opened the bathroom door and groaned. It was a freaken mess. He grabbed all the cleaners under the sink, squirted around the toilet and then kicked all the dirty clothes and towels out to the hall. He used every spray he had to spray the bath and the sink. He wiped the toilet with toilet paper, it looked clean now. He went to the hall cupboard and found a cloth and went about cleaning the sink and the bath. The shower looked like a lose cause at the moment. He dumped a whole bottle of bleach into an empty spray bottle and just kept spraying. At least now all the bugs would be clean. Had they really been washing Fee in there. He couldn't remember they mostly been swimming. When was the last time they did bath her? A week ago. He excused it away by the fact they had been swimming at the pond with her. 

Daryl opened a window, he then turned the shower on and watched as everything come off the walls of the shower, he watched it go down the drain. He was going to have to remember to remind Merle that they needed to clean or get someone in.  He sprayed the floor of the bathroom with spray and wipe then he used a clean towel to wipe it all down. The towel come up brown. He was grossing himself out. When he convinced himself that no one would die of sickness if they used the bathroom he went about looking at the upstairs bedrooms. There were five up there. They had two spare ones. He opened the rooms and their window, he'd just finished changing the sheets when he heard Merles truck arrive and he went down stairs to greet whomever was coming. 


	5. Chapter 5

Daryl threw a armload of washing over the banister hoping it would all fall to the ground before they opened the main door instead the main door opened as it was half way down and it was like he was welcoming them with a ticker tape parade into the house with dirty towels. He stared at the three new comers. They all stared at the towels falling to the ground. Merle just shook his head at the sight. Daryl really didn't know what to do, they'd been talking about getting one of the local women in months ago but neither of them had the time to make the call.

The little girl around the same size as Phoebe and the women, then his eyes slid across to the teenager. They both were standing there trying not to smile at Daryl as he bumbled his way down the stairs pretending he didn't just throw a whole lot of towels over the stairs. Fee Fee stood there with her hands on her hips staring at him. She run past him kicking at the towels all the way down the hall to get them to the laundry, she only got them as far as the door because there was not a lot of room in that room because you had to climb over piles of dirty clothes to actually get to the machine. At the moment they were only making the effort every few days to keep up with Fee Fee's clothes.

He flicked his gaze back to the women again trying to figure out if he knew her because that boy sure looked like a Dixon to him. He was standing there jutting out his chin at Daryl almost in a challenge waiting to see what the other man would say to him. Merle hadn't said much, he arrived back at the store with his mom in tow. They then went via the primary school and they followed Merle into the school where he picked his daughter. The little girl quickly made friends with Sophia in the back seat of the truck. 

Daryl was trying to figure out who fathered the teenager. Him or Merle. He realized quickly didn't know her at all. He didn't think it was him because he took a while to get out the barn door on sowing his wild oaks, now if someone showed up with someone the little girls age he would wonder. He always wrapped his junk but Merle could have left a trail of children the state wide and one of them had caught up with him. Along with his mama and sister. He didn't know the women but he did recognize her from the photos that they took down off the walls. She had to be the old man's daughter. The one who couldn't be bothered coming when he died. 

He stared at her again, Merle was almost holding her up, she looked devastated. She tried to stop sniffing and look him in the eye, she was leaning on Merle like someone had just killed her best friend. 

"Hi... I made dinner." Daryl gave them a wave.

"My brother Daryl... This is Carol, her old dad was..." Merle started, Daryl waved his arm letting him know he'd worked it out. "And this is Sophia, and this is Jaxon."

"And Jaxon is..." Daryl raised his eyebrows asking the question and Merle picked up the question he was asking but he didn't want to ask in front of the children or the women who for some reason had ever slept with Merle. She was a pretty little thing but she must have been drunk or something to sleep with his brother. 

"He's mine." Merle threw him a look to say don't question me right now and let it go. Daryl just stared at his brother not quite believing that he seemed so cool about everything. Daryl was wondering what was going on, the women... Carol was sobbing and he wanted to wrap her in his arms like he did his niece to make her feel better, make him feel better because he was a right sucker for tears and he didn't like it at all. 

"Worked that out. The girl?"

"Not mine you..." Merle was going to call him a fucker but he stopped because of Carol and the girls. "Fee you take Sophia up to your bedroom and play for a bit and I'll call you down for dinner."

"Ok daddy, hi uncle Daryl everyone loved my pig tails."

"That's good, I'm pleased they stayed in." Daryl gave her a hug and watched the two little girls run up the stairs. He looked at Jaxon, "Your's is the top left past the girls room, get your bag and head off for a bit so the adults can talk."

Jaxon looked at his mom to check she would be ok. "Mom?"

"Its ok, check on the girls and Zeus, I'm going to talk with Merle and Daryl." Carol told him. Jaxon nodded, Carol looked around Daryl down the hall at the towels on the floor. "Actually Jaxon, put a load of towel on." Jaxon nodded and headed off down the hall to do what his mother told him to do. "He knows where everything is."

"You have him well trained." Merle commented seeing him go off without worrying or complaining.

"I guess he just wants a shower with clean towels." Carol said quietly.

"Well lets all go talk in the..." Merle looked at Daryl and Daryl pointed to the kitchen. "Kitchen."

"Ok... What's wrong with the lounge?"

"You don't want to know darling." Merle told her, they all headed into the kitchen and Daryl made coffee while Merle and Carol sat at opposite ends of the table waiting for Daryl to join them. Carol was still sniffing, Merle went looking for tissues leaving Carol and Daryl alone. He put the coffee in front of her and went to check in the oven.

"You cooked?"

"Yeah... hope your kids like it." Daryl turned with a tea towel in his hand looking at her. "What's going on?"

"We ran... from my husband. I just found out my... dad died... last year." Carol started crying again. "I didn't know. He sold the farm and buried him without telling me and stole all the money... He didn't tell me."

Daryl felt like a jackass standing there so he moved over to try make her feel better and he put his hand on her shoulder and started patting her like he did his horse.  "Oh.. ok then, so I'm gonna have to kick his ass when he shows up here looking for you guys? Or are you going back?" Daryl wasn't sure. Chicks went back all the time his mom used to. 

"Jaxon got us out. He stole the money and picked up Sophia from school and we drove until we arrived at dad's old place and found out he'd been gone a year." Carol started sobbing again.

"Come with me..." Daryl told her, he held his hand out. "Its ok, Merle must have got caught up with the girls."

Carol stood wiping her eyes on the tea towel Daryl past her, she did take his hand and followed him out the back door. He grabbed a cowboy hat off the hook and put it on her head. Carol burst into tears again because it was hers. It had been there since the last time she had been there hanging on the hook waiting, Daryl took another one. He had hats all over the place.  He kept ahold of her hand and he walked around the back of the house and down past the barbecue area. He was heading to a place Carol knew well. The old ranch cemetery. 

"We buried him on the ranch, he'd live here nearly fifty years, and his parents were buried here it just seemed right." Daryl told her. He walked her to the gate, he plucked a yellow rose from the bush that was growing near the gate. He handed it to her. He opened the gate and let her hand go, he pointed to the right and she saw he was buried side by side by her mom. They buried him here where he always talked about being buried by the love of his life.

"Thankyou!" Carol flung her arms around the cowboy who stiffened under her hug, she didn't even realize that Merle had come out the back door and around the outside area and stood watching his brother lift his arms to hug Carol back. Interesting, things were getting interesting around the ranch. 

 


	6. Chapter 6

"The girls are playing upstairs and Jaxon is fiddling with stuff in the laundry, he's found Daryl's remote control car, because Daryl's into that sort of thing." Merle come out to where they were standing. "He plays with his toy cars most nights." Merle didn't know what was going on, or what he walked out on but Daryl still had his arms wrapped around Carol. He only just found out about Jaxon and he wasn't sure what he even thought about it yet. He wasn't about to cast his new ready made family out but he now was a daddy to two children with an extra non related little girl along for the ride. They needed to figure out what they were doing really quickly.

Daryl stared at his brother wondering why he was telling such lies about him making out like he played with toys all the time. He wasn't sure what was going on in his mind trying to get one up on him like he was trying to steal his girl at a dance but really he was just trying to stop the women from crying. Sure he was interested in women but certainly not one that had slept and bore his older brothers child. Nor one that was still married who had a crazy husband who was likely to be coming looking for him. He also didn't want a women with kids. He had enough of that with Phoebe, he wasn't a daddy type. He just wanted to get on and do what he wanted and if he wanted to get laid he certainly wouldn't be taking Merle's seconds.

"That's ok, if he gets bored with that I'm sure Merle has his train set up in the dinning room that he won't mind sharing." Daryl cast his eyes at his brother telling him to take that hit and run with it. Merle looked back to the house and he could hear little girls giggling nearby, he pin pointed the noise coming from the swing out the front of the house. Phoebe knew the boundaries that she could play in the front yard alone but anywhere else even into the barn she had to have someone with her. She wasn't allowed to be around the horses alone.

Merle opened and closed his mouth he was trying hard to think of a comeback that wasn't going to offend Carol because he really didn't know her. He'd worked for her daddy for three months before moving onto a new job. He'd been quick to get the young cowgirl up into the loft in the barn for a roll around in the hay. He was thinking now that her old man knew that he was the father of his grandson when he come back fifteen years later to take on the managers job on the ranch. He'd been giving both Merle and Jaxon a chance to meet. He probably never realized he wasn't going to be around to see it. Carol's father must have assumed that Carol eventually would come back with Jaxon for a visit or something and the two would meet.

Merle had started a new hobby collecting and making miniature train displays was now being outed by his younger brother. It soothed him, calmed him, stopped him reaching for the bottle which would have been really easy too but he had a baby daughter to take care of. His wife died three days after she was born, complications from having the baby that no one predicted. When it happened Daryl took on the feeding, caring and learning about new borns when Merle fell into a pit of grief after losing his wife.

He started collecting miniature trains, it started as a bit of a joke with Daryl but the joke turned into a love affair between Merle, Daryl and their trains. So far Daryl just dropped Merle into the conversation about the trains but to be fair Daryl had just as much enjoyment from the trains also. What else was the dinning room supposed to be for except having a big display of trains that no one would ever see. They slowly made up a train track, now they was making a whole village and train station. The way Daryl was implying it it was only Merle that was childlike playing with toy trains.

Carol just stood there wiping her tears watching them. Then she realized they were having a pissing contest trying to impress her by making the other brother look really stupid. "I'm sure he will like them." Was all she could say. "Thank you for letting us stay."

"What we gotta do now Carol is get you a lawyer, and I just happened to ring one of the women down in town and she's on her way out to see you." Merle told her.

"You just happened to ring her?" Daryl stood there with a smirk. Merle been single for over five years and he had finally decided that it was time to get back in the dating game. He hadn't officially dated anyone but he sure did have a great deal of things that he needed to take to the lawyers office lately. Daryl just watched from the side lines and stayed at home with Fee Fee while Merle kept giving the lawyers their money instead of asking the damn women on a a date.

"Well we need to help Carol before this dick comes out here. Also we need to talk about Jaxon." Merle told her. Carol was tired but she nodded that she would agree and come to talk with the lawyer. Maybe if she had some money she could buy a place with her children and make a go of things. She was so tired that she actually didn't even want to think about it.

"Thankyou but I don't know if I've enough money to pay a lawyer and our keep." Carol tried to tell Merle.

Merle sighed and Daryl leaned back on the fence watching his brother claim the seventeen year old and his family. 

"That not a problem, Jaxon stays here with me. Hell I'll keep the little girl too, if you want to go you are free to go but you all have a home here. Treat it like its still your home." Merle told her, "We can work this out... we will work it out. You, me and Daryl we will work on a plan with the lawyer and get you your money then you can decide what you want to do, but until then you all stay here with me and Daryl."

Three hours later Carol was still talking with Andrea the lawyer who had come out to the farm, she had made goo goo eyes at Merle and read Sophia and Fee Fee a story while Daryl and Carol cleaned up from dinner which Andrea had stayed for also. Carol quickly found out that Andrea was Merles girl but they both didn't know it yet. She could see that Merle was trying to keep things nice, he didn't want Carol to feel unwelcome and he knew while she was still married she was the mother to his son and he wanted to keep everyone happy.

Merle took the girls upstairs to bed after Carol gave them a bath. Both had decided they were best friends and Sophia was sleeping in the twin bed in her room. Andrea was sitting at the kitchen table with Carol and Daryl. Both Andrea and Daryl sat in silence as Carol gave details the events of the last few years and also the events of the past few days and how they come to arrive at the farm. Daryl was just sitting back listening and watching while Carol described her marriage, he was in shock.

"I'm not sure of the dates or when things changed." Carol was explaining, she looked up and Jaxon appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. He was holding a school book with maths on the cover. He walked into the room and handed Andrea the maths book.

"I'm not good at math's," she told him.

"No, I wrote it all down. When Phillip cut off the home phone we were doing a project at school about bullying and ... sorry mom I wrote everything down and dates. I made a plan, when mom kept trying to leave and we couldn't. I wrote everything down in case we needed it." Jaxon opened it up, "Every day for a year and a bit, its all there."

Carol brought both hands up to her face to cover her eyes, Merle had come into the room by that stage and heard what Jaxon had said. He patted Jaxon on the back and told him he did good. Daryl reached out to comfort Carol when she heard the lengths Jaxon had actually gone too. They didn't know it was too late to see her dad one last time but they found the Dixon brothers, they were going to help them.


	7. Chapter 7

Daryl started to head out to the barn to bring the horses in. He was done in, he'd spent two hours listening to Carol talk with Andrea and then his new nephew had saved his mom. He was just hanging back from grabbing his truck keys and driving two states over to plant the man. He couldn't believe that this guy Phillip didn't realize what sort of family he had. Phillip had thrown it all away for money. 

Before heading outside Daryl had headed upstairs to check on Fee Fee and found both little girls were sound asleep wrapped around each other. He thought about lifting one out but he was scared that one would wake and then start crying or something. He left them like that. He loved his niece with all his heart like she was his own. He'd taken her on when Merle was at his lowest and now there was another cheeky little monkey with a angel face sleeping beside her, he knew he was going to be a goner if they both ganged up no him.

It was getting to dusk and he had to get the horses in, there was a chance of rain and some storm blowing through tonight so he wanted to get them into the barn just in case. He knew he was going to be out there for a few hours to get them all brushed down and fed. Normally either he or Merle did it, if they were in a hurry they would keep Fee Fee up until they could get them in. The house was just too far away from the barn and until recently they only been leaving her asleep to duck out to the barn with one of them running back and forwards to check on her 

Merle was talking quietly with  Jaxon at the kitchen table. Daryl could tell they were having a man to man talk. Merle was still getting over finding about Jaxon and Merle wanted to find out everything about him. Jaxon was talking quietly to his Dad. Carol watched them for a few moments from her post where she was standing leaning against the counter wondering if she should go out with Daryl and help him with the animals. She looked out the window and the clouds were starting to roll in. She could see the first traces of wild fire in the distance, she could hear a horse panic slightly from the nearby field.

Carol followed Daryl out, She wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to talk with him and if he would let her help him. She just wanted to get out of the house. Andrea told her she was going to handle her divorce and go for half of everything. She did say she could try go for it all but she was worried that that would make Philip even more crazy. She spent her whole life here and now she was back, if only for a short time. Not forever, they couldn't just move in with the Dixon's, but the brothers would keep them safe until the paper work was done.

She couldn't stop her feet following him into the barn, she didn't even ask if he needed help, she could hear the panic starting in the paddocks with the horses as they nickered and she could hear the hooves dancing around the paddocks. She picked up a couple of halters for the horses near the barn. Daryl glanced over at her and down at her feet, she had boots on and he nodded his thanks to her. She followed him outside to get the horses and bring them in out of the rain.

"How many?" She called out to Daryl.

"Eight, there are two small ones in the paddock on the left, they need to come in first." Daryl called out to her, he was hooking up a brown mare and he whistled for another, Carol had two small horses hooked up and watched Daryl walking with one horse on a lead rope and two horses following him into the barn on a whistle like he was the damn pipe piper. He was coming out with leads when she was bringing the smaller horses in, he gave her a nod. "I'll get the last three, he's going to be spooked."

"Ok. I'll check you in a minute." Carol told him. She didn't need to he was back with two more horses, he passed them off to Carol and ducked out to bring the last horse in. Carol had no idea who went where but she wandered along picking out stables with what she thought the horses names were. She past a stall with the name 'Honey,' she smiled because that was the horse that must be Daryl's. She was a funny looking horse and she was looking towards the door waiting for Daryl to come back.

They worked quietly together for some time, brushing the horses down, before Jaxon come out to poke around in the barn. He had a big rain coat on, Carol could tell he was really just checking up on her wondering what she was up too out in the barn. He seemed keen to try brush the horse down. Daryl had other idea's and gave him directions to feed the horses and who needed what. Daryl went about filling up water troughs. Carol and Daryl and worked methodically brushing the horses.

Jaxon finished up feeding all the horses and he stood in the stable door watching his mom. 

"Come in I'll show you what to do." She told him and then she went forward showing him how to brush a horse down.

"Mom... Merle said we can stay here for as long as we want." Jaxon told her. "Sophia relaxed. Its safe here. My real dad will help us, he said so."

"I don't know, we will just wait and see." Carol told him quietly aware that Daryl was in the next stall and probably could hear them talking. "I know Merle will help us, he's a good man... we just need to take our time and see what happens ok."

"I'm not going back, I'm staying here." Jaxon told her.

"We are not going back... I promise, we been trying to get out for so long and now we just need to see what happens with Andrea." Carol wrapped her arms around the brown mare's neck and hugged her as a thank you. They were moving onto the next stall. They moved onto the small horse which clearly was Phoebe's horse. Carol smiled when she saw it. 

"Hello beautiful horse." Carol looked around, she felt at home rubbing the horse down and brushed her down.

"Fee Fee's learning to ride, she thinks she's a real cow boy." Daryl low rumbling voice come from the doorway.

"I always wanted the kids to learn to ride but we didn't get out here a lot once... well you know." Carol told him.

"We can get Jaxon on a horse tomorrow and Sophia, we got a nice little one in the next stall, been looking after it for months... Merle picked it up at an auction." Daryl stepped into her stall. Carol smiled at the younger Dixon and thanked him, telling him she was sure Sophia would love for him to teach her to ride. They worked together for the next half an hour, Jaxon had headed back to the house but Daryl and Carol worked sorting the horses alone until it was all finished. They worked in comfortable silence for the whole time not talking, just taking sly glances at each other. Daryl couldn't quite work her out but she did know her way around horses.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Carol awoke to the sounds of giggles and laughter, followed by low rumblings of male voices telling them to slow down before something happened. She heard the sounds of little feet bounding down the stairs and slow male thumping ones following. She hadn't heard laughter like that come from her little girl for so long that it was a joy to hear. Sophia had come out of her shell around Merle Dixon very quickly.  She heard Sophia's high pitched squealing like she was being tickled, and then the sounds of another little girl was laughing calling for her daddy to tickle her next. 

It sounded like Merle had been in girls room and was stirring them up by tickling them. She could hear banging as it sounded like there was a heard of Elephants bouncing up and down on the beds in the room down the hall. It also sounded like Merle could be jumping on the beds with the little girls too. Carol rolled towards the door smiling at the noise. Sophia needed positive male role models in her life and it sounded like she was choosing one in Merle right at this moment.

She looked at the small alarm clock by her bed. She had to go into town this morning to sign paper work that morning and she was going to file today. She was also filing for a restraining order and she told Carol she wasn't allowed to go anywhere alone. She knew she was going to have to ask one of them to watch her kids today and one to escort her into town. She didn't know which brother she wanted to spend time with or which one would be better company going into town with. Both of them would be ok but she didn't know either that well, sure she slept with Merle and he was the father of her oldest child but she didn't know him. She trusted him but she just didn't know him.

There was a thunder of little feet running down the stairs, more giggles and a soft tap on her bedroom door. "Come in." Carol called out.

"I'm going to give the girls breakfast... Is it ok if Daryl takes you into town, I want to spend time with Jaxon... and Sophia." Merle asked her. "I missed a lot and I want to be here just in case he shows up here."

Carol nodded she knew that he wanted to keep an eye on the kids. He wanted to protect his new family, he appeared to be including Sophia in his little flock. It brought tears to her eyes that a stranger to her actually cared about her little girl more that the little girls own father did. 

"I didn't mean to upset you."

"You haven't, its happy tears... it is, I mean you could of just taken on Jaxon but you're including Sophia." Carol choked out.

"Well its a bit hard to ignore her when she's jumping on my bed with my daughter. Also she's Jaxon's little sister, your daughter... she's got a home here. He's not going to take her so you don't gotta worry about that." Merle told her, it didn't help her tears any as they kept coming.

"Thank you... she needs someone as role model and people to look out for her." Carol told him. "You and Daryl... you didn't have to help us and I'm thankful."

"Don't cry... you cry the kids will cry." Merle told her. "I'm sorry I slept with ya and left ya knocked up. I was a arsehole back then, I should of let ya know where I was going to and not bailed out like that when we started getting close... I was dumb and young and fill of cum."

"It's ok... you didn't know I was pregnant." She couldn't help but smile at his words, he did have one idea on his mind when he first met her and that was 'how quick could he get into her panties,' and it was pretty quick. She didn't blame him, she fell for the handsome young cowboy but for some reason he was a good looking twenty two year old and now he was extremely handsome pushing nearly forty. He looked like Jaxon, or Jaxon looked like him. She was lucky that they were being so welcomed.

"Still not right. I'd fucken kill someone for doing that to Fee and ya dad, he was a good bloke, offered me the chance to manage this place even though he knew... he knew didn't he?" Merle come to the realization that her old man might have known something was up with Carol's marriage. "He knew if something went wrong you would come back here and I'd be here."

"Yeah... I think he did..." Carol said softly, they could hear something break downstairs. "You better make sure they are still alive." 

Merle nodded and pulled the door shut. He never stepped over the door way, holding the whole conversation from the hall. Carol flicked her eyes to the connecting door that connected her room to Daryl's through a shared bathroom. She could hear the shower running, water hitting the floor of the shower, she wondered what sort of man was on the other side of the door. She used to be the only one who used that bathroom. Her parents put it in as a special treat so she didn't have to share the main one when she was sixteen. She think it was because her dad could never be bothered sharing with her because she took forever to get ready for school, now she was sharing it with the youngest Dixon brother. He didn't say a great deal yesterday, she supposed she was going to get to know him better during her day that she would be spending with him today.

She could smell the smell of some male spray deodorant coming underneath the bathroom door, she heard the door connecting the other bedroom open and close. Carol rolled out of bed and stretched. She had on a pair of panties and a tee shirt. She dug in her bag for a change of clothes. She was moving quietly about getting her things something she learnt while with Phillip and she opened the bathroom door peeking around the corner. Daryl was gone. He'd left a mess of dirty clothes and towels behind him. Carol picked them up and put them in the actual washing basket.

She moved the washing basket out of the way, she dragged it into her bedroom because there wasn't enough room with all the other things that were going on in there. The toilet was clean, she could only assume Daryl had cleaned it yesterday. She grabbed her toilet bag to set out the stuff she might need while they were there. She was going to make herself at home because she trusted Merle that they could stay for as long as they needed too. She put out her makeup and tooth brush, putting it into the jar beside Daryl's. She opened the drawers to put a box of tampons in and picked up a box of condoms. She moved some stuff around. Daryl clearly was a man with few needs, well he had one need she supposed as she still held the box of condoms in her hand. She put them back in the drawer.

She turned on the shower and dumped her own clothes on the floor. She took her shower mindful that she should get down and check her kids. They might come looking for her. She stepped out of the shower and was just reaching for the towel and Daryl strolled right in from his bedroom. He wasn't expecting her to be standing there, he passed by because when he opened the door the door covered her but when he shut it behind him she was exposed with nothing but her hands to cover herself with.. He was heading right for the tooth brush at the sink and Carol was behind him standing there naked, he hadn't seen her for the first few seconds as he busied himself with the tooth brush. He put it in his mouth and looked up in the mirror. The whole experience taking five seconds from the time he walked through the door to he looked in the mirror. Carol didn't know what to cover first. Her boobs or down below, she chose to turn sideways crossing her arm across her boobs.

"Fuck!" Daryl blurted, he didn't know what to do.

"Give me a towel." Carol juttered her chin to the towel, he seemed to be going in slow motion. She was sure he wasn't. He still had his tooth brush and shut his eyes and tried to turn passing her a towel, he reached out with it and Carol tried to move towards the towel but she ended up with his hand brushing against her breast. "Its my arm... its my arm." Carol lied.

"Bullshit!" He was squinting looking at her. Carol wrapped the towel around her. "Don't tell Merle." Daryl was gone, he threw his tooth brush in the sink. Carol stood there wondering what the hell just happened. He saw her naked and she didn't even feel that upset about it all, and he was definitely looking at her, the trip to town was going to be interesting now he seen her naked..


	9. Chapter 9

Carol tip toed down the stairs to check everything was still ok after her run in with Daryl that morning. She found Daryl waiting for her sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee waiting for her.

"Mornin'," he greeted her, "its great isn't it?" He had a slight twitch to his lips like he was embarrassed and excited at the same time. Carol just knew it was because he was thinking about touching her boob and he was too polite to say anything about it. She gave him her mommy glare which he opening stared back at her, it didn't work he appeared to not be worried about the mommy look. 

"Shut up." Carol moved across to pour herself a coffee, she looked out he kitchen window and she could see the children outside working with Merle. "Is Phoebe going to school today?" 

"Yeah we are going to drop her off on our way into the law office, Merle's going to watch the other two. He's actually taking them out on the ranch." Daryl told her.

"Sophia can't ride."

"He will put her in font of him and keep her safe. He's got a phone, two way radio and a beacon thing that he can set off if he need it." Daryl told her quickly, "We can also get in contact with the police station because they... monitor our two way radio."

Carol was well aware of what could go wrong on a ranch, she was glad they didn't take any risks and that they would be able to keep track of her kids while they were out with Merle. "They monitor your radio? Why?"

"One of the women have the hots for Merle... and ..." Daryl left his comment hanging.

"You?"

"Uh ha," Daryl made a non committal noise.

"They your girlfriends?"

"They? You think I have multiple girlfriends?" Daryl looked somewhat amused by her question. "No... but I got a few beers in one time and flirted a little, nothing happened." Daryl had no idea why he was telling her nothing happened with another women, all his thoughts about not going near her went out the window when he saw her naked that morning and he touched her cream flesh. Merle was going to kill him. If he found out he was even thinking about her boobs or all the rest of her, the tattoo on her hip. Merle couldn't find out because  _fuck she was still married._ _  
_

 "Ok..." Carol didn't know why she cared that he might have a girlfriend or not.

"I don't... Have a girlfriend... at all... Just so we are clear here, none, no girl friend, partner or wife that's going to be upset that I saw your boobies this morning," Daryl told her quietly, Carol couldn't stop herself and she gave him a slight slap on the shoulder that he brought it up  _again._ "No one's going to be upset I saw them... cept Merle." He put his hands up just in case she was going to slap him again.

"It was my arm, and I'm sticking with that." Carol was blushing like mad.

"Bullshit, you looked good... real good," Daryl mused as he wandered across avoiding her glare to put his coffee cup up. He opened the back door and called his niece to come with him for school. "Thought we get breakfast in town between dropping her off and your appointment ok."

Carol nodded that it was ok and went to get the things she needed. She said goodbye to her kids and to listen to Merle, she reminded him to feed and water them. Put sunscreen on their faces and not to lose them because they were not used to being on the ranch. Merle stood there nodding and listening to her instructions nodding along.

"I'm going to look after them, don't worry... I won't let them play with gun's or knives either," Merle joked with Carol, her eyes flew wide. It was something she hadn't thought about. "Don't panic, I've got a six year old, I'll look after them  as well as I look after her."

"Thank you, for everything," Carol looked across the yard to where Jaxon was pushing Sophia on the swing, he was getting her off it. Carol could see Merle had dressed her like a mini cowgirl this morning. She had cowboy type boots on, jean's and a checked pink shirt and a cowboy hat on. He must have dressed her in some of Phoebe's clothes. She really needed to get her some clothes to wear so she wasn't wearing the other little girls. Jaxon must have borrowed a hat and was wearing it like his dad to keep the sun off. Carol smiled at them and waved. They both run across to say goodbye to her and they would see her later, she hugged her kids and kissed them.

She held out her hand and grabbed Merles giving it a squeeze to thank him before heading back off to the other brother who was waiting for her by her truck to take her into town to sort her life and money out. She walked across to the truck, she glanced over her shoulder to smile at her kids. They were long gone into the barn but Merle was standing there staring at her arse as she wandered across the yard. She glanced ahead, Daryl was standing at her chest and Merle at her arse, maybe she wasn't a dried up old housewife like Phillip tried to make her after all. 

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

Daryl started up the truck, put in a cd for Phoebe to listen to as they drove into town. It was a song that Carol reconized and Daryl started his jam, tapping the steering wheel in time to the beat and singing along with her all the way to town. Carol looked out the corner of her eye at the singing cowboy who was singing out of key and he really didn't care because his niece was giggling along with his bad tones. It was clear to her in that moment that Daryl would do anything for the little girl in the back seat and she was the apple of his eye. He glanced her way and caught her smiling at him.

"Don't laugh," Daryl warned her, "not my fault I'm tone dear... and Fee likes it."

"Its just... you really like her... you singing because she likes it." Carol was amazed about it all. Philip would never have sung along to a song in the car or sung to Sophia at all. Carol just smiled at him and glanced over her shoulder at the happy carefree little girl in the back seat. She was so more carefree than Sophia was, she had a more carefree life than Sophia ever had.

"Of course I _like_ her, I wouldn't know all the greatest hits for five year old if I didn't _like_ her." Daryl told her quietly, they drove into town and pulled into the school parking lot. Carol watched as Phoebe skipped along holding her uncles hand all the way to her class. Carol followed them into the class and helped get her lunch and bag sorted. Carol watched from the sidelines as he hugged and kissed her telling her that someone would pick her up from the classroom and she didn't need to catch the bus. Daryl stopped to tell the teacher on his way out that she would be picked up in class. She couldn't help but notice the teacher flirted with the handsome cowboy, in fact all the moms were smiling at him.

Carol and Daryl strolled down the hall slowly towards the school office so they could get enrollment forms for Sophia into school.  The office lady gave both Carol and Daryl a once over trying to figure out why Daryl Dixon was with a women asking about enrollment forms and was there a place available in the next few days for a five year old little girl. The women nodded that they would expect her tomorrow or the day after.

Once Andrea sorted out her divorce papers, got her a restraining order she would put Sophia into school.

"You can enrol her under a different name... if you want," Daryl suggested he could tell she was mulling it all over how she was going to enroll Sophia without Phillip finding out she was in that school, "People can enroll them under whatever they like... if Jaxon gets enrolled under Jaxon Dixon... just enroll Sophia under the same name."

"I can't pass Sophia off as Merle's... everyone would know if Phoebe is already here." Carol told him, "That would mean people would think he was having an affair."

"Tell them she's mine then..." Daryl suggested. Carol's jaw dropped open at his suggestion.

"So... I had one child to your brother and one to you... so the town will think I'm the town bike." Carol tried to explain, but in reality as long as no one actually asked her they might assume Jaxon was Daryl's too. Daryl would have all the blame and none of the fun that went with having children. Merle would probably kill him for suggesting he pretend to be Sophia's dad. Then people would just assume he was Jaxon's, it would end up in a great big mess.

"No they will just think you have the worlds best taste in men." Daryl gave her a wink.

"You are a huge flirt Daryl... but I can't ask you to do that." Carol smile at him.

"I don't mind... we would give the local's something to talk about..." Daryl teased her as they headed out of the school building out to the truck. "So lets go have get breakfast."

Carol nodded following the cowboy who just offered to give her daughter his name, they headed up the road towards the dinner to have breakfast while waiting for the lawyer to arrive at work at the law firm across the road. 

Carol looked over the menu and then across at the cowboy sitting across from her. Where she was sitting she had a good view of the front door and the rest off the dinner. She was aware that Phillip might not be that far behind her. She didn't think that he would get here so quickly but he would come looking for her, she wasn't sure that he wouldn't try and convince everyone in this town that she was crazy or something. carol felt she needed to talk to Daryl about it while she had him as a captive audience sitting across from her.

"So..." Carol started to say and then she looked up and placed her order with the pretty dark haired women who come and took her order. She filled their coffee cups from a pot of coffee and then put the pot down on the table as she smiled at Carol and took a step towards her.

"Maggie Greene," Carol greeted her old friend, she stood up and gave her friend a hug. Maggie held her tight and squeezed her.

"I'm glad you are here," she mumbled in her ear, "I heard from..." Carol looked across the road, "My husband works with Andrea... I heard you come back home."

"I missed you too," Carol kissed her cheek and smiled at her friend again, they always been close but since she lost her home phone. She did get a couple of letters from Maggie until Phillip managed to get the mail redirected to to his office. "I'm sorry we lost contact... things haven't been great."

"Its ok... we will catch up when you can... you staying with the Dixon's at the ranch?" Maggie asked her.

"Yes... please don't tell anyone I'm here..." Carol whispered to her friend, "Until Andrea sorts everything out."

Maggie nodded she walked away not before squeezing Daryl's fore arm and headed back to the counter.

"You good friends?" Daryl asked Carol after Carol sat back down, Carol nodded and went on to tell him how they  spent their whole school lives going back and forward from Carol's ranch to the Green farm. Both girls riding horses the half hour trek between the homes. Their breakfast arrived along with a coffee refill. Carol was having pancakes and Daryl looked like he was having the all day breakfast with extra toast and mushrooms. Carol watched as the man started to tuck into his meal. Carol took a fork and cut through her stack, she spread butter all over her stack and drizzled  syrup all over them until they were drowning in it, her stack was beginning to look like a  gooey mess.

Daryl looked at them and screwed up his face as she took a bite. "They are good," Carol told him and smiled at him because he looked grossed out. "You want some?" Carol cut some off to offer them to him. He shook his head and tried not to watch as she licked some syrup off her thumb. She flashed him a smile that showed him she was really enjoying her pancakes. She looked more relaxed than she did last night when she arrived, she still had a sad look about her sometimes when he could tell that she remembered her dad was no longer here.

She started to tell him something and her eyes flashed to the door at the ding, the next thing Daryl knew she had dropped under the table cloth and was wedged between his knees. He slipped a hand under the table and rested his hand on her shoulder. He kept eating, he reached across and pulled her stack towards him. He grabbed the coffee cup and passed it to her under the table.

He listened to Maggie telling a man that she didn't know where Carol was and she hadn't heard from her in a long time. He sat in his boot listening to footsteps walking slowly towards them.

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

Daryl listened to the man asking table by table if anyone had seen his wife. Daryl was pleased that everyone in the dinner had no idea where Carol was or had anyone seen her. The old timers knew Carol's father and had smiled at her as she had come in with Daryl that morning. Carol had smiled and given the odd hug on her way in. The rest knew not to cross Maggie Greene because she might not give them their orders, plus Phillip was arrogant and was raising his voice. 

He was dressed to impress, clearly hoping that he would give the allusion that he was smart, kind and over all a nice guy. So he though, he made Daryl's hackles raise up as he waited for him to approach his table. Daryl took a sip of coffee and Carol shifted closer to him on the table wrapping one of her arms around his thighs like he was keeping her grounded somehow. He could tell by her hot breath seeping through the denim of his jeans that her forehead was pressed up between his legs resting on the top of his thigh. He hoped he could keep his body under control while he held a conversation. Carol had no idea what she was doing to him hiding there.

He rubbed her shoulder trying to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. Carol held onto him a bit tighter. Carol could hear the footsteps of her husband and they stopped right beside Daryl. Daryl cast his eyes towards the man who was trying to talk to him. He cut up some bacon and toast and kept eating. He stabbed at the stack of pancakes and took a bite of Carol's also. He didn't want to be asked about the two plates of food for himself.

"I'm looking for my wife... she's feeble minded and she run off with my kids, you haven't seen her have you?" Phillip asked Daryl.

"I haven't seen any wive's just wandering about... maybe you should go look elsewhere." Daryl told him.

"Do you know her cowboy? She's from around here." Phillip asked him. 

"I'm not from around here... I'm new in town." Daryl told him, "Go take a look at the mall... women like to shop don't they."

"Yeah... I'll go look there... if you see her... her names Carol tell her I've got her meds and she's crazy off them, I'm going to the police station next... they will hunt her down and my kids.... got two of them, that bitch took them." Phillip growled. 

"Yeah you go around telling people your wife is feeble minded?" Daryl asked him.

"Had to keep her at home..." Phillip started to tell him all about it and Daryl fiddled with phone that was sitting on the table, Phillip was so busy talking about how horrible Carol was to see Daryl push a button to start recording what Phillip was telling him. Daryl asked him what what he had to do to keep his feeble minded wife under control. Daryl wanted to plant him one but he knew if he stood up Carol would be reviled. 

"Guess you better keep looking for her then, maybe you need to go down to the police station now to see if they picked her up... Surely a women like the one you described wouldn't have made it this far..." Daryl waved him off. Maggie opened the door of the cafe to let Phillip out.

"Tosser..." One of the old cowboys mumbled as he left.

"You can come up now... unless you want to stay between my legs a little longer?" Daryl teased Carol some, he helped her climb up out from under the table. He gave her a hug to make sure she was ok. He gave her a half smile and held up his phone and clicked the stop recording button. "I got him, I got everything he said but the first minute."

"Did you?" Carol heard everything Phillip had said and knew Daryl was hearing it but she didn't know if she could remember it all.

"I heard it all lovely... you let me know if you need me to come to court." The old cowboy in the booth across from them stood up and come across to the booth to see her. He had arrived in the dinner moments after Phillip had entered the dinner.

"Hershel... you heard... Daryl do you know Hershel Greene." Carol asked Daryl.

"Yes... we are neighbour." Daryl nodded to the man and stood up to let Carol go past him to hug the older man. Daryl sat back in the booth and Hershel come across to sit with them for breakfast.

Carol filled him in quickly about what was happening. He did remember Jaxon from when he was a baby. When they all finished breakfast, they had another cup of coffee and then it was time for the meeting with the lawyers. Daryl was going to duck down to the police station to have someone come and talk with Carol at the law firm. He didn't want to ring and have it spread across the police station by the gossipy women. They also might blab to Phillip that Carol was with her lawyer if he was in there when they rang.

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

"You will be ok... I'm not going to let you fall." Merle had Sophia in front of him on the horse and they were starting to ride out to check some fences. The little girl wanted to ride with him, he didn't mind, she never been on a horse before. She wasn't scared of them because she had helped him lead them out of the barn to the paddocks nearby she just didn't want to ride one.

She spent a long time talking to them leaning over the fences watching them move around the paddocks, she was calling out their names and trying to get them to come over. Merle warned her never to go into the paddocks with horses in them without a adult with her. She nodded that she understood what he was telling her and decided to stay outside watching them over the fences for a while while Merle and Jaxon mucked out some of the stalls. Merle hated mucking out and picking up horse shit but with Daryl with Carol in town he had to do it. Jaxon didn't mind because he used the opportunity to talk and ask his own sets of questions.

Sophia was asking Merle endless questions about the ranch, the house, Phoebe and why she didn't have a mommy. He answered as many questions as he could before telling her to go up to the office in the barn and bring out the water canteens for them to take out. Sophia was given the task of filling the them for the three of them while Merle saddled up his horse. He had his own routine that he liked to spend time settling his horse and talking quietly. He was thankful that his horse like Daryl's was used to little girls chatting around them non stop. 

Merle managed to side step the questions he didn't want to answer about what happened to his wife, because although Phoebe knew her mother had died, he didn't want to scare Sophia by telling her that Phoebe mom had died. She might be worried about her own mama. She already was worried that her dad was going to arrive at the ranch. Some people were honest with their kids about death and some didn't want them to know about it. They already learnt last night that their granddad died, he didn't want to fill her mind up with some things that he wouldn't be able to answer any of her questions the way Carol would.

He could tell Carol had been quite honest with Jaxon about his dad. Jaxon told him that he knew his mom was young and that his dad was a cowboy. He even knew his name to a point but as Merle was never one for the internet and never been in trouble with the law he was hard to track down. He'd looked to see if there was a facebook, and google had come up with nothing when he put in his name. He looked at births and death's online and Jaxon knew that Merle wasn't dead. He just hoped one day he would get away from Phillip to try search for him. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that Merle was at the old family ranch.

Merle had spent part of the morning showing Jaxon how to saddle a horse and the Sophia still had been one step behind him everywhere he went. He enjoyed spending the time getting to know Jaxon. He was a good boy he could already tell he was completely different to the way he was when he was seventeen, Merle only really had one thing on his mind until and that one thing had been the reason Carol had ended up with Jaxon. He was always trying to sweet talk the girls into dropping their panties for him. He hoped he didn't have any more surprises coming his way. He didn't think so. He'd always wrapped up tight except with Carol. She was unexpected, he didn't think she would ever fall for his sweet talk, she did. They didn't use anything the first time, but after that he'd gone into town to get some rubbers. 

He didn't mind it because he was used to little girls being one step behind him where ever he went, he just wasn't sure what to do when she slipped her little hand in his. She leaned against him like Phoebe did when she was unsure about the big horses. Sophia just trusted Merle, he assumed it was because she was following Jaxon's lead with Merle and if Jaxon thought he was ok so did Sophia.  She appeared to have claimed him like Jaxon did. Jaxon already asked him that morning if he could tell people he was his dad when he went to the high school.

Merle had quickly asked him what he called Phillip. Jaxon said that he had always called him Phillip. Merle told him he could call him what ever he wanted. Merle, dad, uncle Merle or what ever a seventeen year old wanted to call him, he just couldn't call him an arsehole. Jaxon had grinned and started calling him dad. Merle hoped Carol wasn't going to mind about that. The first few times he heard him call him that it did feel strange but over the morning he grew used to it. When they went up to the house for morning tea Sophia picked up that Jaxon was calling Merle dad and she started calling him that too.

Carol certainly was going to mind that the little girl had started calling him dad like her brother was. Merle tried to steer her to uncle Merle but when her tears fell and she asked him if he didn't like her, he told her she could call him whatever she wanted. Carol was going to be pissed at him he was sure. Carol might not like it but at the end of the day he wasn't going to let Jaxon go, he'd claim Sophia too if Carol would let him. He would talk to her that night and tell her that she could put his name down as her father at school if she wanted too. No one would dare ask Merle Dixon about parentage of children he put his name too. _Well only one would ask then word would get around._

He could see a car coming from the distance and he knew it wasn't Daryl. He was in two minds, one was to ride away quick with the kids or to face the man that was driving onto the ranch. He'd already moved Jaxon's car into the barn so it wouldn't be noticed.

"Take Sophia and your horse into the barn, go up in the loft and don't come down. As far as he knows your not here." 

"Who's coming?" Sophia looked worried. "Is it him?" The little girl began to cry.

"Ok lets just go, hold on princess." He whistled for both dogs and they rode out quickly, Sophia sobbing the whole way in front of him on the horse. Phillip pulled up in front of the ranch house and no one was there. He looked around in the distance but he couldn't see the cowboy and two horses, one with his step son and one with his daughter off in the distance. He looked frustrated, and climbed back into the car.


	13. Chapter 13

Merle sat on his horse with Sophia in front of him and Jaxon on the horse beside him. Sophia was crying and Merle could only hold and hug her to try get her to stop. Jaxon watched his dad comfort his sister, her own dad never barely touched her. They all stared down the side of the hill, they were a good distant away from the barn and half behind the rocks they knew they wouldn't be spotted. Merle was wondering what was going to happen. He was glad he made the choice to take the kids out of it so they didn't have to face the man. He felt like a bit of a coward running but keeping the kids protected was the most important.

He watched Phillip looking around and he headed into the barn. Merle tensed up as he did a quick count of the fields surrounding the barn. All the horses were there and there was nothing in the barn except a few rouge field mice. He knew it was going up really fast that Phillip must have come out with one thing on his mind. He must have seen Jaxon's car in the barn and gone a little crazy.  Merle swore when he saw the smoke coming out and the man walk slowly off to the house. Merle was shocked as the barn started to go up in smoke.

"The pony!" Sophia asked with a panic'd voice. She started crying again, they could hear the horses panicking and Merle knew he had to get down there to move them away from the burning barn. He was also going to leave the kids up the top of the hill while he went and did it. He didn't want to but he didn't' know what Phillip was going to do next in his big bag of tricks and he didn't want his kids to be down there involved. Anyone who set a barn on fire had no business being around children. 

"They'll be ok, I'll go down and open the gates," Merle was pleased he'd let all the live stock out of the barn but they were still in nearby paddocks. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would stand back up the side of the hill and watch his barn being burnt to the ground. Carol's husband was crazy, he was thankful he had her children with him and they were no longer tied up with him. He also couldn't believe the man had gone and set his barn on fire.

Merle tried to hand Sophia over to Jaxon on his horse, she wouldn't let him go. He had to climb down off the horse with Sophia clinging to him like a monkey. He felt really bad for her, she was so scared and she was also scared she was going to be left alone or come face to face with her dad.

In the end he had to leave her screaming standing holding onto Jaxon's hand while they watched Merle ride down the hill back to the barn. He approached the paddocks from behind and the barn was burning fast he could feel the heat off it. He whistled for his horse's and they all come to his way and he was able to let them go further from the barn than they were already. They were not at risk but they were in a fright.

Meanwhile Phillip was inside the house. Merle watched Phoebes pony raced off. He watched as Jaxon called the horses to him and they all stopped and grazed near the kids. He knew they would stop eventually because there was fencing five miles out. They would slow down and stop there. He was surprised to see Daryl's horse slow and move about Jaxon and Sophia almost like she was protecting them. She moved back and forward in front of them.

Phillip hadn't come out of the house but he could see smoke coming from the top floor. He didn't know what he should do. He had the animals away, Phillip clearly was crazy, he could feel the heat on his back from the fire in the barn. He climbed from his horse and hit it on the rump to send it back up the hill. He moved around to look at the house, no one had come out and he was fearing the worse.

He pulled out his cell phone and called the police and fire department. Merle filled them in about the fact that Carol's ex was burning shit up at the ranch. They were on their way and told him to keep far away from Phillip, Carol had just finished giving her statement in town and there was new information coming out about him. They told him they would be there as soon as possible.

Merle stood there watching his house, he thought about his wedding album and the few photos of Phoebe that were in the hall desk. He was going to try get through the door to grab them. He was going to take a huge risk to get them but they were only a few feet inside the front door. If he could just open the drawer his little girl would have a photo of her mother.

He walked up the steps slowly, he could hear the fire, smell it, taste it,  Phillip was still in there he could hear the crashing about upstairs. He pushed open the door and called out.  Merle went in to the hall, the ceiling was on fire. If Phillip was still inside the house things were not looking good for him. The old wooden farm house wasn't going to fear well against someone set on setting the whole house on fire. The noise from the smoke alarms were piecing. They had smoke alarms everywhere, any fire break out plus they had fire extinguishers throughout the house. Merle grabbed one by the front door and used to to clear a way to the desk, he grabbed what he was looking for. Phoebe's last things about her mother. She had taken three photos with her before she hemorrhaged. 

Merle tucked them under his arm and he could still hear Phillip crashing about upstairs. He heard a scream, thudding as someone tumbled down the stairs and a ball of fire run past him. Engulfed with flames he watched the man run out on the front lawn. Merle just stared at him for a few seconds before running out to turn the extinguisher on him to put out the flames, he tucked Phoebe's things into his shirt and run to grab the hose, he turned the hose on Phillip. Phillip was rolling around, Merle just kept the hose on him hoping his kids stayed away up the hill. He kept the hose on him in a trance even after he knew he was gone.

He didn't know how long he stood there. The smoke was all around him, but he kept the hose on the dead man because every time he took it off the skin started to melt. He knew that there was nothing else he could do for the man, but Merle couldn't move his feet at all.  Rick Grimes eventually took the hose off him and pushed him in the direction of a waiting ambulance. He'd been standing in the cross breeze of the smoke and and was coughing. They sat him down and tried to put a mask on him.

"My kids... my kids..." Merle gasped, 'Up the hill..."

"Phoebe at school Merle," Rick told him.

"Sophia and Jaxon... " Merle pointed in the direction of the hill nearby he could just make out two figures standing there with a horse before Merle passed on on the gurney. They moved quickly transferring Merle for smoke inhalation. Rick Grimes made the slow walk up the hill to the two children waiting.

"I'm officer Grimes... I'll take you back down." He told them. Jaxon was still holding Sophia's hand and she was watching the ambulance leave and go down the road.

"Where are you taking my daddy?" She asked him.

"Merle's your dad?" Rick asked him.

"He's my dad..." Jaxon said, "Sophia's my sister... where's my mom?" 

"Carol's your mom? And Merle's your dad? Both your dad?"

"Yes..." Sophia told him. Rick shrugged and couldn't even start to work it all out.

"So lets go down because I know your Mom and your other dad... um... going to be worried about you both," Rick told them. He started walking down the hill and Jaxon whistled the same whistle Merle taught him for the horses. They could see a horse float from the Greene farm had arrived to take care of the live stock. 

"Other dad?" Jaxon asked Rick.

"Daryl appears to have told one of the ladies at the police office that Sophia's his daughter..." Rick told him.

"Oh... she is... " Jaxon told him not even surprised by the statement. They were half way down the hill when Daryl's truck come screeching into the normal parking area. Both leaped out of the truck looking about for the children. 

 

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

Daryl watched the old neighbour loading up the horses in this trailer, he moved to help him get some of the frightened horses away. To be honest he wanted to be a long way away from the chard body on the ground. The police were trying to figure out what happened and they wanted to talk to the children. Daryl had already told them that they couldn't talk to the children for a while. They needed to be comforted by their mother before they both would allow them to talk with them. After all the burnt body on the ground was the man who raised them. 

Even though he wasn't a good man in the end. He was still Sophia's father and still the man who was in their lives. To see anyone  burn to death wasn't a great thing to happen for anyone. The little girl just saw her father as a flaming ball of fire by the sounds of things. Merle had put him out.

"You all can come stay at the farm Daryl, we have plenty of room." Hershal Greene told him. "We will put you right."

"We could go to a hotel... I don't know what Carol wants to do." Daryl told him.

"You need family around you lost everything today." He told Daryl.

"We all come out alive... the kids are alive, he didn't get the kids, hopefully they didn't see much," Daryl told him. "Merle's going to be ok, We need to go get Phoebe though."

"We have things for you all to wear, I'll tell Maggie to go get some things from town for your little ones and we will find a way to sort you all out." Hershal told him.

"It's ok, I'll run  to the store, thanks Hershal, we would love to stay with you, I need to check the horses." Daryl gave him a nod and headed over to where Carol was standing. He stopped to make a call to Andrea, who quickly decided that she needed to be there for any communications given with the police. She also would call a support person who deals with children and teens to come talk to Sophia and Jaxon. Carol looked like she was in shock, "I told the cops they can't talk to the kids yet, I think they need a support person there, so I'm going to call Andrea to be there when they talk to them."

"Why? They didn't do anything wrong!" Carol looked surprised about the suggestion her children would need a lawyer.

"Just making sure everything they say and happens has a support person, someone who's on their side who isn't you or me." Daryl said. "Its just better to have her there." Daryl looked at the two children who looked as bad as Carol did. They were getting support people in with them also. He went about telling Carol why they were getting some people in to talk with the kids. Carol just nodded and  took a step towards him, he just pulled her the rest of the way and held her. Sophia was now hugging onto his leg and Jaxon was doing the 'I'm to old for a cuddle shuffle but I need one,' Daryl held his other arm out to welcome him in too. They all stood that way until Daryl's phone started ringing.

He took the call which was from the hospital telling him they were keeping Merle over night and Merle was wanting to make sure the kids were ok. Daryl spoke briefly to Merle on the phone, he passed it to Jaxon who then spoke quickly passing it to Sophia, then Carol. They were all relieved that he was going to be ok. Daryl put Sophia and Jaxon into the truck that was towing the large horse float that was filled with their horses and pony to go up the road to the Greene's farm. He had to go get Sophia and he and Carol had to do a quick run into the store to buy some clothes for everyone. 

Carol hugged her children and knew that Maggie's father would look after them for the short time they were away. Carol looked lost, the police and forensic's had arrived to try piece together what was happening with everything that happened that day. They only set off to town three short hours ago and now everything that they had headed into town to try sort out was gone. Carol felt weird, she knew she shouldn't be happy but in a way she suddenly felt a weight lifted off her chest, but sad about everything that happened today.

She climbed into Daryl truck to go with him. They waited for the horse float to go down the drive to the road before Daryl left to head into town. "You ok? Bit of a shocker isn't it!"

"I don't know... its crazy really what do we do now, the house is gone, everything is gone..." Carol glanced at him, he didn't know what to say. He wasn't that attached to the house but Carol had lost a lot in the past few days, she just found out her Dad died and now she just saw her husbands burnt body, and she knew her kids witnessed it also.

"Its going to be ok, it will, right now we have to get some clothes and pick up the princess and tell her her daddy's in hospital." Daryl looked worried about doing that last bit. Carol looked sick to her stomach and Daryl just reached out and took her hand. He knew she wanted to get to her kids but at the same time they needed to get some stuff to go stay at the Greene's together after they pick up Sophia. 

He started driving into town listening to her slowing start to sniff beside him in the truck, sniffing and trying to stop the tears from falling.

"Do you... I mean ... your husband... you still love him?" Daryl pushed himself to ask the question, her answer would also swing which way he dealt with her crying.

"No... I miss my dad, and my kids didn't need to see that today, also Merle in hospital and little Phoebe daddy's in hospital." All the words come tumbling out of Carol's mouth, Daryl pulled over the side of the road and parked. He undid his seat belt, Daryl reached across the bench seat and he pulled Carol into his lap and held her. She cried and cried on his shoulder and when she finished she used the bottom of her shirt to wipe her eyes. He watched, he didn't say anything the whole time she cried except stroking his back. She looked at him, her eyes dropped to his mouth, his hand kept stroking his back and then up into her hair. He pulled her head towards him sightly, she parted her mouth and he kissed her.

 

 

 

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

They kissed for a few minutes before deciding they better get going to pick up some stuff and little Phoebe from school. Daryl pulled into the store car park.

"You coming in?" Daryl asked her, she nodded and climbed out of the cab, he walked around and took her hand. She still seemed a little lost. He didn't know if he took her hand because he was crushing on her or because she looked so sad or that he wanted to help guide her across the carpark like he would his niece. Either way he took her hand and they needed to move quickly around the shop to gather some stuff for everyone. They had nothing.

"We going to shop together?" He asked her, she just nodded. He headed straight to the men's department. Picking out underwear for his brother and then for himself. Carol reached out and picked out a pack for Jaxon. Even though Jaxon probably could buy his own clothes she followed Daryl about choosing a few items for her son. She still couldn't stop the odd tear from falling. Daryl watched as she tried to keep herself together. "Its ok, we be out of here in five, shop fast." Daryl told her, she just nodded.

Carol watched him look quickly at a couple of shirts, then he picked up some jeans for them both. Carol knew what Jaxon liked and she just grabbed some tee shirts and a checked shirt similar to what Daryl brought for him and Merle.

They had boots on and they would do. He grabbed socks and a warm top each, he grabbed some for Jaxon also. He would need to go to another store to get more gear for riding horses and coats. 

He shuffled from foot to foot watching Carol buy underwear. He tried not to look or pay attention but he couldn't help it as she fingered different styles. She glanced at him as she grabbed three sets and put them in the trolley. He approved with a slight nod. She just shook her head not believing that he was getting excited about her underwear when they all had nothing. He nodded to some other sets of underwear. She shook her head, he reached out checking the sizes in the trolley and found the same size on the racks and tossed them in the trolley as she walked off to find some clothes to actually wear.

He followed her around the women's isle she threw in a pair of jeans and a few other things that she needed to wear. He couldn't believe he was checking her out all the time she walked in front of him when so many bad things had happened that day. She sure was a pretty little thing. He just wanted to wrap her up in his arms and keep her and her kids safe.

"You about done?" he asked her.

"Yeah, two lots of little girl clothes, one teen, two male men, and mine. Anything else we need we can get at a late date."

"Yeah, people will arrive with stuff soon when word gets out. Lets go get Fee from school and go see Merle." Daryl suggested.

They paid with Daryl's credit card and moved quickly putting stuff in the back of the truck. Daryl raced in to get his niece from school alone. Carol sat waiting wondering how everything had gone so wrong so fast yet for the first time in her life she felt quite free. She was so glad that her kids were safe, Merle was going to be ok. She just didn't know what she was doing in all this mess kissing the younger Dixon brother.

She was kissing him like nothing was wrong, nothing had happened yet she finally felt like she was coming home where she was supposed to be. She hoped Merle wasn't going to be annoyed or mad when he found out she had been messing about with Daryl. She had a feeling that he would offer her a place in his home, his bed and part of his family if she wanted it. And she did think if Daryl wasn't about she could want that but right now she didn't know. She hadn't even thought about it. She shouldn't kiss Daryl anymore. It wasn't fair on Jaxon or Sophia to be kissing him when his brother, her son's father was in hospital.

Daryl come out holding Fee Fee and he had clearly told her that her daddy was in hospital because she was crying. He buckled her into her seat. Carol turned around in her seat and offered her a hand to hold after Daryl had buckled her into her seat.

"My daddy's sick and the farm burnt down." She told Carol.

"Yeah it did honey, we will look after you until daddy gets home ok." Carol tried to reassure her.

"Are you going to be my mommy? Are you going to marry my daddy?" the little girl asked Carol.

"I don't know honey, lets just see if we can get daddy home ok. We all love daddy and we want him to get better." Carol told her, Daryl bit down on his lip with the marriage question.

"Daddy's going to be ok Phoebe we go see him now then we go stay at the Greenes." Daryl told her.

"Is my pony ok?"

"Everyone is ok, all the horses, pony's and dogs are ok, I promise." Daryl told her. He was thankful for that, that Merle had managed to get them all out. He drove the rest of the way to the hospital lost in his own thoughts. Carol was lost in her own thoughts too, why had Phoebe asked if she was going to marry Merle. Had she been thinking about that. She was really going to have to stop kissing Daryl, today....


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting there people, I am, I've just been tied up with life. x

"Everything ok?" Daryl asked Carol, he was out in the barn brushing the horses down, settling them all into their beds for the night. But really he was trying to get his head in order. It was clear to him that his brother might be interested in Carol, he was more than interested in Carol and right now kissing her again was the only thing on his mind. He needed to back off while they sorted out everything with the children and waited to see what was going to happen next with the farm. He'd run the insurance and they were having an accessor come out tomorrow. He also knew that the police were asking Carol what to do with Phillips remains. It was a big pile of mess.

Carol had been quiet since they arrived back home, she settled both the little girls into bed together, Sophia was still talking about the fire and Phoebe was missing her daddy. Jaxon was going through different stages of grief and Carol had told him that if he kept calm he could drive to the hospital and check on Merle himself. When he come back he was in a much better mood.

"Girls are asleep and Jaxon is online playing some game." Carol told him. "Its all gone, every things gone... dad's gone, the farms gone and now I don't know what to do."

"You don't gotta do nothing... nothing you don't want too." Daryl kept brushing his horse she was the last one and he was hoping she would calm him down.

"I've got to go back to the house... sell it or move back into it I guess." Carol said softly.

"Merle ain't letting you take his kid away now he found him, found out about him... he won't, Jaxon's old enough to do what he wants... but you don't gotta."

"But... Daryl, I don't understand..." Carol tried to say and he walked over to her and took her hand, he put a brush in it. He nodded towards his horse. She knew he was trying to help her relax in the same way he was making the horses relax in the strange new barn. She brought the brush up and started to brush his horse. She really wasn't that pretty but she did have something about her. They worked together quietly, Daryl mucked out the stall and moved about the barn making sure everyone had water and were locked up in the barn. Carol tried not to let her tears fall but she couldn't help it.

Arms come up from behind her, his hands on her brush stroking the horse. He took the brush and turned her. He wiped her tears and hugged her to him. He was at a loss of what to do.

"Come on lets go in, I need to shower and go to bed. We can bunk down together if you want to." He told her.

"Hershal will be mad right... if we shared?" Carol asked him, from what she could remember Hershel was very set in his ways.

"Not like there's going to be anything happening, you are exhausted and I need to sleep." Daryl pushed her off his chest and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they walked back to the house. She said goodnight to everyone and went upstairs to take a shower.  She wrapped a towel around herself and walked through to the bedroom. She started digging through some of the bags for something to wear to bed. She pulled out a tee shirt that she brought for Merle and pulled the tags off to pull it on. She stopped and stared at it and rumaged through the bag again and pulled out one Daryl had brought. She pulled the tags off that. It shouldn't be such a hard choice off a tee shirt, which one to put on. In the end she put them both back and grabbed a tee shirt she brought for Jaxon, pulled the tags off and pulled it over her head. She pulled on a pair of leggings she had brought. She didn't do under wear because she couldn't be bothered. It was bad enough she had to wear a tee shirt and a pair of leggings.

Daryl come slinking into the bedroom. He'd taken his shower, "Hershel patrolling the halls or some shit." 

"Is he?" Carol handed him the tee shirt she had been looking at. He pulled it over his head and she knew he wanted underwear. She pulled out a pair of boxers and tossed them to him. He pulled them on while trying to talk under his towel. Carol found that slightly amusing that he was trying to protect his modesty. 

"Yeah told him I was bunking down in the attic and he can't get up there on his leg so he's not gonna know where I am." Daryl told her.

"But what if he does. This is stupid we are grown ups not teenagers and if we want to sleep together we can." Carol yawned and glanced up at Daryl. "I am so tired, there's so much to do... his body, what's left of it."

"Why don't you just cremate it and then do something with it?" 

"Hm I might ask the kids what they want to do, we might do something.... I just can't think about it right now." Carol slipped between the bed sheets, they were warm, there were good old fashion hot water bottles in her bed. "You getting in?"

He nodded and walked across to the bed, he flipped off the light and climbed in beside her, she rolled on her side, his arm went over her and he pulled her into his chest so they were spooning each other. "Its gonna be ok, I promise, but you don't gotta go no where. Ya home is here and ya safe now. He's gone. You just gotta let me know what you want alright."

"What do you mean?" Carol whispered in the dark.

"You just gotta let me know what you want... me... or Merle." Daryl whispered. "If its him I'm backing right away... but if its me I ain't letting go."

 


	17. Chapter 17

She rolled back towards him to try see him, she couldn't help it. She leaned in and touched his lips briefly with hers. He growled and kissed her gently, she rolled onto her back pulling him and his weight with her, so he was lying on top of her. She brought her legs up so he was nessled inbetween her thighs.

"You sure?" He whispered, "You don't gotta decide tonight." He pulled back from her a tiny bit even though he didn't want to, he didn't want her to feel pressured. He knew her emotions were all over the place and she could just be seeking comfort from him but he didn't want to do anything they would regret tomorrow if she changed her mind. He looked down at her, stroked her hair off her forehead so he could see her better. "You don't gotta do nothing you don't want to. I'll wait, I can hold you all night."

"I know, but I want to feel close to you, don't pull away," She whispered.

They both looked towards the door, they could hear Hershel making the rounds, checking on the kids before heading down to his bedroom. They both heard him stop outside her bedroom door. They both held their breaths like they were teenagers about to get caught making out by their dad or something.

"Good night Carol, do you need anything." He asked through the door.

"No I'm fine thank you." Carol called out, Daryl bit down on her shoulder trying not to laugh. Then it happened.

"Good night Daryl, I brought your dogs in to the lounge to sleep so hopefully they will be ok down there. I gave them water and food too." Carol stiffened underneath Daryl while the old man was talking to them outside the door. Her eyes were wide opened while Daryl kept rubbing himself against her in between her legs. She shouldn't be turned on right now she just shouldn't but she couldn't help it. Daryl just had something about him. He bent his head and gave her a quick kiss.

"Thank you Hershel, Good night." Daryl called out from his place between Carol legs. "Only one dog is mine though," he said quietly to Carol. She giggled and pulled his face to her to kiss him. "You should have got your lazy butt out of bed and brought ya own dog in." He whispered to her.

"Is it wrong to be doing this? With Merle in the hospital and Phillip dead?" Carol asked him, it felt so good with Daryl where he was but she felt she should possibly be mourning her husband. He was her husband for quite some time and now he was dead, she didn't even feel sorry about it and maybe she should be feeling something. Anything, Daryl kissing her neck was making her feel something but it wasn't what she should be feeling. She wrapped her legs around the back of his thighs holding him there. 

"I know Merle would say go for it and to be honest... I'm real sorry about ya husband. Real sorry... but don't you think that he was only really your husband in name only. It wasn't like there was love there anymore right?" Daryl wondered the same thing himself. "You don't still love him?"

"I don't love him, I haven't for a while but ... this the night he died, is this really wrong?" Carol wondered.

"I don't know... I don't, but if you want it and you wanna feel good, I can make you feel good.... Really good." Daryl was hard and he pushed himself up and down on her thigh and groin. Carol lifted her head to kiss him some more.

"Kissing is good... lets just see what happens." 

Kissing happened then the next thing they both knew Carol was on top ridding him. His hands were on her hips as she rolled them to get more friction on him. They both were trying to be quiet and not make any noise at all. He slid his hand across her hips so that he could flick her clit while she moved up and down on him. She was panting and getting wetter on him. He half sat up to kiss her again, wrapping his arm around her waist pulling her close and rolled her over so she was underneath him. They both adjusted to the new position.

He bent down kissing her, he had slowed things right down again moving slowly against her, in and out. She wriggled underneath him while trying to get him to keep going. She knew he was teasing her, he lifted himself up on one arm and slipped his hand between them to tease her. She moaned breathy tones in his ear and he loved it, he really enjoyed the fact that she was having a good time, he sure as hell was.

"Please," She panted while he was moving so slowly, "I need more, please.."

"More? What sort of more?" He breathed into her ear.

"Harder... faster," she was almost begging him, she was nearly there, Daryl changed his position slightly and moved faster in and out of her. He could feel her getting wetter and wetter underneath him, the fact that she was biting down on her lip trying to stop from calling out. "Oh my god."

"Shush.... baby shush." Daryl groaned as he felt her clamp down around him. She flooded around him and pulled him over the edged flooding into her. "God... good god," he groaned through his own orgasm. He felt so good right now. She wrapped her arms and legs around him to keep him there. She pulled his head down to hers so he could hear her.

"I never had to decide, what I had with Merle was a long time ago. Sure I love him because he's Jaxon's dad but... this I can't stop feeling, this feeling in here." She put her hand over her chest area. "This is real,"


	18. Chapter 18

"You fucken what?" Merle was trying to get out of his hospital bed to grab his brother who was just standing out of reach for a good reason. Merle was still all hooked up to monitors and things and he wasn't doing that great today that they decided to keep him in an extra day. Daryl decided that he was going to come clean with him straight away rather than beating around the bush about what was going on with Carol.

"I really like her and it just sort of happened." Daryl told him. "I kinda.... I kinda... we going to be together, I wanna build a place on the farm for us to be together. Well a wing of a new place so we can be together, like as a family."

"You just sort of what? Tripped and fell into her... you were at Hershel Greenes place and you are telling me you just... had sex with the mother of my son?" Merle was angrier than Daryl thought he would be. He watched as Merles heart monitor started beeping faster. "You telling me you wanna try be a family with my kid."

"Merle ya gotta calm down... Jaxon's yours anyway he's too old I mean Sophia."

"You slept with her... with Carol the day her husband died.... even I'm not that cold. What the fuck Daryl." Merle growled at him, Daryl watched the beeping start to slow down.

"I'm sorry alright... I think I fell for her hard."

"You fucken better because you muck her around I will cut your nuts off."

"Cut who's nuts off Merle?" Andrea walked in and walked right up beside him, laying her hand on his arm and bending down to kiss him, Merle turned his head to catch her mouth.

"I fucken knew it." Daryl growled, "You and her been going at it haven't ya?"

"Don't make it sound cheap Daryl," Andrea told him. "But yes, we have been going at it for about eight months now. Don't tell anyone."

"But how?"

"Do you really think there is a school parent meeting every week Daryl?"

"You dirty fucker." Daryl complained. Merle just gave him the evil eye while looking at Andrea.

"Daryl went there with Carol... can you believe that." Merle complained to her.

"Went where?" Andrea asked. "Oh... Daryl really? Her husband just died."

"Stop saying that I feel bad enough as it is." Daryl didn't but it felt like the right thing to say. He also knew that Merle needed to settle down because Carol was bringing the kids in to see him soon and Carol didn't want him to know what they did last night. She didn't think it was right with Merle being in hospital, but it was too late they already did it. She didn't have any regrets just bad timing. She wished that things hadn't gone the way it did with Philip but she couldn't change the fact that she did feel some relief that he was gone and the kids and her could live happily now. 

She was still grieving her dad too, and the end of her marriage. He left her at Hershels with the children. The old man was taking the girls out to feed the horses while she and Jaxon talked about what they should do in regards with Philips body. Jaxon didn't have an option but he thought that maybe they should just take his ashes somewhere and let them go. He thought that they should just let Sophia decided what she wanted to do. Jaxon had Merle now and didn't even want to think about it.

Carol had talked to Sophia about it and she thought that they could go to the big river and let it go down the stream. Carol didn't know what to do in the end she told Sophia that was a lovely idea and rang to get his body cremated when the police were finished with it. There would be no funeral, or big send off. Just a quiet family drive to hopefully let him be at peace, let them all be at peace without having to deal with it all.

Daryl had kissed Carol in front of her kids and his niece letting them all know he was there and going to be there as a safe person to be around. Sophia had taken it as a cue that she should follow him around Hershels until she tripped him over. Daryl solved the problem by putting her on his shoulders while going about checking the water. Carol had watched from the window seeing the strong cowboy carry her daughter about. His niece skipping along at his side and his newphew keen to learn all Daryl could teach him. She knew that they were in the right place. Once they told Merle they were going to be a family like Daryl had asked her the night before, give it time and everything would settle down and all of them would become a family.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end, thanks for reading. I didn't expect it to end now but it kinda worked out that way in this chapter. More stories coming your way soon.


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